Summary of Procedures Used in Interpretation

CONTENTS
1

INTRODUCTION

CORRELATE AND DEPTH MATCH LOGS

INTERPRET LITHOLOGY

IDENTIFICATION OF PERMEABILITY AND

NON-PERMEABLE ZONES FROM LOGS

DETERMINE AND DIVIDE THE

FORMATIONS INTO WATER BEARING AND
HYDROCARBON BEARING ZONES

DETERMINE THE POROSITY OF THE ZONES

OF INTEREST

DETERMINATION OF SATURATION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Having worked through this chapter the Student will be able to:
Methodology of Log Interpretation:
1. Describe the procedures used to interpret logs.
Correlation and Depth Matching:
2. Correlate and depth match marker beds using the gamma ray log.
Interpretation of Lithology:
3. Describe in general terms how lithology can be interpreted.
Identification of Permeable and Non-Permeable Zones:
4. Describe which logs are used to identify permeable zones.
Formation Zonation:
5. Describe how to determine water bearing and hydrocarbon bearing zones.
Porosity Determination:
6. Describe which logs can be used to determine porosity.
Saturation Determination:
7. Describe in general terms how saturation can be determined.

Summary of Procedures Used in Interpretation

1 INTRODUCTION
The objective of well logging is to determine the properties of the rocks which are
potential sources of hydrocarbons. The logs are used to determine specifically :

Lithology of Formation
Porosity
Fluid Content
Saturation

The interpretation process can be summarised into the following headings:

Correlate and depth match Logs

Interpret Lithology
Identify the permeable and non-permeable beds on the logs
Determine and Divide the beds into zones consisting of water bearing and
hydrocarbon bearing zones
Determine the porosity of the zones of interest
Determine the hydrocarbon saturation of the zones of interest

2 CORRELATE AND DEPTH MATCH LOGS

The suite of logs which have been produced must be correlated, to ensure that the
petrophysical measurements made in a particular formation by the sondes are all
represented at the same depth. This is necessary because the sondes are stacked upon
each other in a particular logging tool and only a certain number of sondes can be run
in any particular tool. Hence the sondes are making the measurements at different
points in time as the tool is being extracted from the well. If the sondes were all at
the same depth, at the same time, when making the measurements then correlation
would not be necessary.
The correlation of logs is usually performed on the basis of the Gamma Ray Log, since
the gamma ray log is generally run with each logging tool run in hole and measurements
made by the sondes on a particular logging tool are depth matched automatically. This
means that all log measurements are automatically aligned with the Gamma Ray log
and therefore depth correlation of the Gamma Ray log from one logging tool with the
Gamma Ray log from another tool will ensure that all logs on both tools are depth
correlated.
The procedure is as follows (Figure 1) :

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Figure 1

Marker

Flow Unit 2

Flow Unit 1

Summary of Procedures Used in Interpretation

a. Place the logging suites side by side.

b. Identify a distinct marker bed on the Gamma Ray log of each suite of logs
c. Shift the suites of logs up or down until the marker beds are aligned in terms of
depth
All of the logs will now be aligned with respect to depth and the measurements from
each tool at any particular depth can be assumed to represent the properties of the same
formation.

3 INTERPRET LITHOLOGY
The lithology of the formations which have been drilled through is not always
immediately obvious from the logs which have been run. However in virtually all
exploration and appraisal wells the interpretation of the lithology will be supported by
evidence which is derived from drilled cuttings by the mudlogging engineer or
wellsite geologist and analysis of cores which have been cut and retrieved from the
well. In addition to the lithological description derived from the above, the mudlogger
or geologist will also provide an interpretation of the depth at which the formation
horizons were penetrated. In the case of development wells the regional geology
should be reasonably well defined.
As discussed in Chapter 2, rocks are classified on the basis of a system associated
with the chemistry of the rocks. The reason for this is that the measurements made by
the logging tools can be calibrated in terms of the properties (e.g. density) of these
specific minerals and therefore that these minerals can be clearly identified when
encountered. If the formation is made up of one mineral then a particular log
measurement may be used to identify that mineral and therefore infer the rock type
(lithology). However, if the formation is made up of a mixture of known minerals then
it is necessary to use a combination of logs to obtain a good indication of the
mineralogical content and therefore lithology of the formation. The composition of
the rock can be inferred by crossplotting combinations of the Density, Neutron and
Acoustic log data. Figure 2 shows an example of a Neutron Porosity versus Bulk
Density crossplot. The utility of this approach depends on the complexity of the rock
as well as the number of porosity logs run. This technique of crossplotting porosity
logs to identify the lithology is described in Chapter 6. This technique can also be
used to define the porosity of the formation and presence of gas. This will be discussed
in the section on porosity determination below.

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Figure 2
Neutron Porosity versus
Bulk Density crossplot for
determining lithology

4 IDENTIFICATION OF PERMEABLE AND NON-PERMEABLE

ZONES FROM LOGS
The permeable zones on a suite of logs can be identified by referring to the GR, SP and
resistivity logs. The Gamma Ray log is generally used as a depth reference tool and
is the Gamma Ray sonde is therefore run with all logging tools. It is however primarily
used from an interpretation viewpoint to differentiate between shales and other
formation types. Since shales generally have a very low permeability (very common
caprocks) the Gamma Ray log response can be used in a qualitative way to identify
non-permeable zones. The technique for identifying permeable zones on an SP log
is provided in Section 3 of Chapter 4. A comparison of the resistivity readings from
the flushed zone, shallow and deep into the reservoir (Figure 3) will give some
indication of the depth of penetration of the borehole fluid and therefore the
permeability of the formation.

Summary of Procedures Used in Interpretation

Figure 3
(Upper) - Invasion and
Resistivity Profile in water
bearing zone.
(Lower) -Invasion and
Resistivity Profile in oilbearing zone

5 DETERMINE AND DIVIDE THE FORMATIONS INTO WATER

BEARING AND HYDROCARBON BEARING ZONES
The nature of the fluids in the permeable formations is determined by analysis of the
porosity and resistivity logs. It is possible to differentiate between gas and liquid with
the porosity logs but it is not possible to differentiate between water and oil from these
logs. The characterisitcs of the logs measurements made by porosity tools in gas
bearing and non-gas bearing formations is shown in Figure 4. The rationale for these
log responses is explained in Chapter 5.

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FORMATION GAS INFLUENCE ON POROSITY LOGS

FORMATION

SATURATION

GR

Shale
Sand
(Uncompacted)

Gas

Sand
(Uncompacted)

Water

Shale

Sand
(Compacted)

Gas

Sand
(Compacted)

Water

Shale

Sand

Gas

Shaley Sand

Gas

Grading to Shale

Figure 4
Formation gas influence on
porosity logs

The resistivity logs can only be used to differentiate between hydrocarbons and water.
This is because the conductivity of gas and oil will be similar whereas the resistivity
of (salt) water and hydrocarbons will be significantly different. The interpretation of
the response of the resistivity tools in water and hydrocarbon and water-bearing
formations relies on an appreciation of the changes in resistivity that occur in the
region close to the wellbore of a permeable zone (Figure 3).
When a permeable zone is penetrated by the drillbit the drilling mud will try to
penetrate the permeable formation. If the size of the pores in the formation are smaller
than the solids in the drilling fluid then the solids will be trapped on the surface of the
wellbore and the fluid in the drilling mud will pass through the solids into the
formation.
When invasion occurs, the wellbore is coated with a thin film of solids known as the
filter cake and the formation next to the wellbore is flushed by the mud filtrate
moving into the formation and is therefore known as the flushed zone. The
hydrocarbon saturation in the flushed zone is a minimum and all of the formation water
is removed.
The formations deeper into the formation are affected progressively less than the
flushed zone until at some radial depth into the formation the fluids in the pore space
are undisturbed. In a hydrocarbon bearing formation the hydrocarbon saturation is
reduced in the flushed zone and increases in the transistion zone until the original
saturation is reached in the undisturbed zone. In a water bearing formation the water
saturation in the zone between the flushed zone and the undisturbed zone would not
change but the salinity and therefore the resistivity may. These changes in saturation
and resistivity create resistivity profiles which can be used to identify the water
bearing and hydrocarbon bearing formations.

Summary of Procedures Used in Interpretation

Figure 5
Resistivity profiles from
shallow, medium and deep
resistivity logs in fresh and
salt mud systems.

Salt Mud
System

Rx0

Resistivity, R

Fresh Mud
System

Resistivity, R

When using freshwater mud, the resistivity of the mud filtrate is higher than that of
the formation water and therefore in a water bearing zone the resistivity of the flushed
zone is high and the resistivity readings decrease with movement out into the
undisturbed zone. In a hydrocarbon bearing formation the resistivity of the zone
behind the flushed zone may be higher or lower than the flushed zone depending on
the water saturation and resistivity of the formation water. The resistivity profiles and
relative readings which would be expected from the shallow (S), medium (M) and
deep (D) reading resistivity logs for each of the above conditions are shown in Figure 5.

R*
DMS

Fresh Mud

Salt
Water
Zone

R0

Rt
Rx0

Rw So
increasing

R*
SMD

When using a salt water mud the flushed zone has a lower or similar resistivity than
the undisturbed zone if the undisturbed zone contains high resistivity water. The
undisturbed zone will have higher resistivity if the formation contains hydrocarbons.

6 DETERMINE THE POROSITY OF THE ZONES OF

INTEREST
Rock porosity is generally determined from the measurements from one, or a
combination of, the following logs:

Acoustic log,
Density log and/or
Neutron log.

The measurements of the neutron, density, and sonic logs depend not only on porosity
() but also on the formation lithology, on the fluid in the pores, and, in some instances,
on the geometry of the pore structure. When the lithology and, therefore, the matrix

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parameters (tma, ma, ma) are known, correct porosity values can be derived from any
one of these logs, appropriately corrected for environmental effects, in clean waterfilled formations. This procedure is described in Chapter 5.
Accurate porosity determination is more difficult when the matrix lithology is
unknown or consists of two or more minerals in unknown proportions. Determination
is further complicated when the response of the pore fluids in the portion of the
formation investigated by the tool differs appreciably from that of water. In particular,
light hydrocarbons (gas) can significantly influence the response of all three porosity
logs. Even the nature of type of pore structure affects the tool response. The neutron
and density logs respond to total porosity - that is, the sum of the primary (intergranular
or intercrystalline) porosity and the secondary (vugs, fissures, fractures) porosity. The
sonic logs, however, tend to respond only to evenly distributed primary porosity.
When any of these complicating situations exists the porosity of the rock can only be
determined by crossplotting the measurements from two different log types. In other
words the porosity cannot be determined from a single porosity log. The way in which
the porosity can be determined in these situations will be described in Chapter 6.

7 DETERMINATION OF SATURATION
The electrical resistivity of a formation is a very good indicator of the fluid in the pore
space of that formation. Neither oil nor gas conducts electrical current but water does.
It is very rare however for a formation to contain no water at all and there is generally
some level of water saturation of the pore space, Sw in all formations. If Sw is the
fraction of the pore volume occupied by formation water then (1-Sw) is the fraction of
the pore volume occupied by hydrocarbons.
The proportion of water and therefore hydrocarbons in the pore space of formations
is generally determined from the levels of resistivity of the formations in question. The
resistivity of the formation is however also a function of a number of other variables
such as porosity and the salinity of the water in the pore space.
There are a number of techniques available to determine the water saturation of a
formation and therefore the hydrocarbon saturation and these are presented in chapter
7. However the most commonly used techniques and the ones that will be examined
in this course are the following:

10

Direct application of the Humble Formula

Resistivity vs. Porosity Crossplotting (Hingle Plot)
Rwa Comparison
Flushed Zone Resistivity Ratio Method

Calculate
Porosity,

Zone Logs as
Water or Hydrocarbon Beds

Identify
Permeable Beds

Interpret
Lithology

Correlate and
Depth Match Logs

Calculate
Saturation, Sw

Flowchart 1
Log Interpretation Flowchart
Overview

Summary of Procedures Used in Interpretation

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Consider
Hydrocarbons
Shales
Carbonates

Consider
Hydrocarbons
Shales
Carbonates
Pressure

Wyllie Equation
Empirical Equation

Consider
Shales
Carbonates
Uncompacted Sand
Pressure

Neutron Log

Density Log

Limestone

Sonic Log

Clean Sand

Identify
Permeable Beds

Interpret
Lithology

Correlate and
Depth Match Logs

Flowchart 2
Log Interpretation Flowchart - Porosity
Monomineral Lithology

Humble Equation

Micro Res. vs
Crossplot

Consider
Hydrocarbons
Shales
Carbonates
Pressure

Res. vs Crossplot

Consider
Shales
Carbonates
Uncompacted Sand
Pressure

Rwa to Rw Comparison
Technique

Determine
Saturation

Determine
Porosity

Logarithmic
Overlays

Identify
Permeable Beds

Interpret
Lithology

Correlate and
Depth Match Logs

Shaly Formation
Models
Laminated Shale
Dispersed Shale
Total Shale

Resistivity Ratio
Methods
Flushed Zone
Invaded Zone
RXO/Rt
Dispersed Shale
Total Shale

Flowchart 3
Log Interpretation FlowchartSaturation Interpretation

Summary of Procedures Used in Interpretation

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